Railways generated Rs 25 billion in 2013-14

ISLAMABAD - Pakistan Railways earned around Rs 25 billion in the financial year 2013-14 against Rs 18 billion generated during the last financial year, showing an increase of Rs.7 billion in the national kitty. Pakistan Railways has earned great reputation due to its three-tier efficiency depending upon punctuality, revenue generation and public satisfaction over the biggest source of transportation in the country, a senior official in the Ministry of Railways told APP on Tuesday.“The present government while reposing confidence on Khawaja Saad Rafique gave him the charge of Railways which he accepted as a challenge and proved his worth with the outstanding performance of the department,” he maintained.The official said that the Railways’ performance could be seen from its developments leaps and bounds which resulted in generating almost Rs. 25 billion in a period of just one year. “Pakistan Railways has surpassed the revenue target of Rs 21.5 billion set by the government for the financial year 2013-14 and managed to earn over Rs 2.5 billion from the said target”, he added.The official said that Pakistan Railways earned more than Rs. 18 billion in financial year 2013-14 from passengers against Rs 14 billion during the fiscal year 2012-13 and earned about Rs 4.5 billion from freight services against Rs 1.8 billion the year before and Rs 3 billion from miscellaneous against Rs 1.7 billion in the same period of the last fiscal year.To a question, the official said that when the present government came into power in 2013, there were 465 locomotives of which 120 were operational, however now 200 locomotives are operational including 23 new locomotives procured from a Chinese-led consortium.Terming the freight trains as the backbone of Railways, he called them the main source of income upon which the government was focusing and increasing the number of such trains. Earlier, he said, three to four locomotives were available for freight services but now the number has increased to 25.